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INTEGRATING NEUROSCIENCE INTO
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION
1
INTEGRATING NEUROSCIENCE INTO
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION
 Domestic violence as a problem in affect regulation
 Emotions - Different types, process, relationship to
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cognition
Different types of emotion regulation
Mirror neuron system
Empathy
Wired for happiness, gratitude and compassion
Secure Base Priming Program
WHAT IS AFFECT REGULATION?
 The ability to modulate emotional state in order to
adaptively meet the demands of their environment.
 Individuals with a broad range of affect regulation strategies
will be able to flexibly adapt to a range of stressful
situations.
 The key is tolerating emotion why struggling with problemsoolving
 Individuals with a more limited emotional regulation abilities
may fall back upon a more limited range of stereotyped
strategies that are not as successful in meeting their needs,
or which come with more severe unintended consequences.
EMOTION AND MOTIVATION
Emotion is derived from the French word, “emouvoir”,
which is based on the Latin word “emovere”, where
“e” means “out” and “movere” means “move.”
 Interestingly, the word “motivation” is also derived
from “movere.”
 So emotion and motivation are rooted in a term that
means to move.
 Our bodies rarely react without movement
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THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
 Different contemporary theories of emotion (LeDeux,
Panksepp, Damasio, Davidson, Ekman, etc.)
 William James (1842-1910) thought of emotion as a
bodily process rather than a mental process. It is
something you experience in your body and therefore
one can’t separate mind and body when it comes to
emotion
 Emotion, cognition and behavior – Connections
 Our conscious experience results from an integration of
various brain and body processes - not separate
functions
THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
 Most DV programs are primarily focused on anger
 There is more to violence than anger
 Therapists need to expand their conceptualization of
emotion and emotion-regulation with regard to
perpetration and victimization
 Fear is an important factor, particularly for those who
experienced trauma and loss
 Approach versus Withdraw Emotions
THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
 Other emotions to consider in treatment
 Shame is a social emotion that is also linked in
emotional memory (implicit) when raised in shamebased families
 Development and strengthening of approach emotions
– compassion, gratitude and joy
 Brain asymmetry and approach/withdraw emotions
 Richard Davidson found that 30 minutes of mindfulness
meditation over 60 sixty days changed the relative
activation patterns of the brain from right (withdraw)
dominant to left (approach) dominant
THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
 Damasio Three Types of Emotions: Primary, Background
and Social Emotions
 Primary Emotions: Happy, sad, anger, fear, surprise and
disgust
 Background Emotions: good, bad and everything inbetween
 Social Emotions: shame, guilt, love, embarrassment,
compassion, gratitude, envy, jealousy, empathy
THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
 Primary emotions: Characterized by a burst & relatively
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quick decay
Background emotions: more akin to mood (hours, days
or weeks)
Social emotions occur within the context of social
relationships
The purpose of emotion is solve problems or endorse
opportunities
Our clients are trying to solve problems, but do so in
ways that are maladaptive or destructive
EMOTIONS VERSUS FEELINGS VERSUS BEHAVIOR
 Emotion is the physical experience of something changing
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in the body due to an internal (thought, appraisal or
memory) or external (a critical or upset partner) stimulus
Feeling is the mental representation of the experience of
having an emotion
Feeling is the awareness and mental labeling of the change
in the body – self monitoring
One can have emotion without feeling
Behavior leads to the solution to the emotion (with or
without feeling)
TWO TYPES OF EMOTION REGULATION
 Antecedent-focused (e.g., visiting family for holidays)
Situation selection (to go or not to go)
 Situation modulation (sleep there or in hotel)
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Redirecting attention (keep away from stepfather)
 Shift perspective (he can’t help himself)
 Response-focused
 Adaptive (talking, breathing, getting away, medication,
etc.)
 Maladaptive (food, drugs, alcohol, sex, violence,
withdrawal, verbal attack, etc.)
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EMOTION, FEELING AND LANGUAGE
 Many of our clients are unaware of their emotional states
and behavioral intentions; and therefore can’t really talk
about them, so they show them behaviorally
 When people show their emotions and intentions rather
than talk about them, the brain (mirror neuron system in
particular) of others try to figure out the emotions and
intentions
 When people talk about their emotions and intentions,
there is no need to extrapolate
 When this mental processes (figuring out where someone is)
are explicit, higher cognitive processes can be utilized
SHOWING VERSUS TELLING
 We show our emotions and intentions most of the time
 Showing is a not-conscious, bottom-up process
 There are times when taking stock is important; particularly in
interpersonal relationships, and especially during times of stress
 When you’re automatic response is to down-regulate or upregulate taking stock is not possible
 When your automatic response is maladaptive, the only way to
change that behavior is via conscious effort
 Additionally, showing can lead to contagion; which can in turn
lead to mutual escalation of negative affect
TOP-DOWN & BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING
 We were all taught to pay attention to non-verbal
behavior in graduate school. Body language was key
to knowing our client’s state of mind; or at least
asking about it.
 Top-Down: stepping back and paying attention to
body language, facial cues, gesticulation, tone of voice,
pauses, language used, etc.
 Therapists need to be good observers of others.
BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING
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However there is a quicker, and possibly more accurate, way
of getting into our client’s mind
One that is less analytical and more experiential
To develop and hone this ability the therapist needs to be
more self-reflective and aware of their own emotions and
intentions.
The therapist needs to be what’s called, embodied – able to
pay close attention to one’s own physiological
experience(Lakoff, 1999)
Curiosity: Why am I feeling or wanting to act in this way?
A willingness to engage the client on this level of relating
THE MIRROR NEURON SYSTEM
 First described by Giacomo Rizzolatti at the Neurophysiology
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Lab at the University of Parma, Italy
MN are visual-motor neurons that fire when an action is
observed in others.
They simulate the observed intention or action within the
observer
Related to the cognitive functions of imitation, action
understanding and social cognition
Been associated with a variety of neurological and
psychological disorders; including MS, schizophrenia, autism
and spectrum disorders and alexithymia
THE MIRROR NEURON SYSTEM
Still controversial
 Meta analytic study by Molenburghs, et al (2011)
 Out of 300 published studies and 125 that met their
strict inclusion they found that a core network of
human brain regions do in fact possess mirroring
properties that not only include action and
observation but non-motor activities auditory,
somatosensory and affect.
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MIRROR NEURONS & INSULAR CORTEX
 Mirror neurons have been found in various parts of the brain,
but particularly in the insular cortex
 Insular cortex is located deep within the cerebral cortex
separating the temporal, parietal and frontal lobes
 The insula is involved with consciousness and functions related
to emotion and regulation of body homeostasis: including
perception, motor control, self-awareness, interpersonal
experience and various cognitive functions (social cognition)
 Mirror neurons activate motor neurons so that we actually
physically experience what others are feeling or intending
THE MIRROR NEURON SYSTEM
 You are on a bus from Calagry to Lake Louise and you notice
the person next to you all of a sudden looking pale. They start
retching and filling a paper bag with clumps of undigested food.
What do you feel? You feel a sense of nausea that one feels
with motion sickness.
 When we witness such experiences we activate;
 Mirror neurons in the insula that would be active if we
were experiencing such feelings, and
 Motor neurons in our premotor and parietal lobe that
would be active if were were performing those physical
actions (throwing up).
THE MIRROR NEURON SYSTEM IN SESSION
 Your client is calmly talking about an interaction they had with
their partner. They describe a conversation where their
partner, according to your assessment, was devaluing and
humiliating. Your client is not using these words, and your
client is not talking about his/her emotional response to the
partner.
 As you listen, you begin to notice that you are feeling anger,
shame and disgust
 Your MNS may be simulating within you the emotions your
client is unware of and not representing with words
 Your client is showing not telling
THE MIRROR NEURON SYSTEM IN SESSION
 When your client is not feeling - just emoting – your
brain is trying to figure out what is going on in their
mind - this is accomplished through mirroring.
 When your client starts to talk about their feelings, you
may notice that you start to feel less emotion
 Mirror neurons are most active when people are
emoting and less active when others are representing
their mental state with words
 Mirror neurons are less necessary when emotions and
intentions are made explicit through language
SOCIAL COGNITION:
DEFICITS AND DISTORTIONS
 Complex processes in the brain relating to how we
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understand and recognize others emotions, thoughts and
behaviors
Closely related to empathy
Reading the emotions and intentions of others
Deficits and Distortions can cause serious interpersonal
problems
Psychopath: Deficit and extreme distortions
Personality disorders: Distortions - emotional reactivity
SOCIAL COGNITION:
DEFICITS AND DISTORTIONS
 Emotion (affective states) colors our perceptions
 Memory affects our perceptions as well (PTSD,
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insecure attachment, trauma, etc.)
Our beliefs about self and otherss affects perception
We are helping perpetrators become more aware of
their mental assumptions and bias' about themselves
and others
Change malignant assumptions to benign
One goal is to help them develop as accurate and
benign view of other's intentions as possible.
IMPROVING SOCIAL COGNITION SKILLS
 Encourage mind talk: How do you feel? What do you think?
Why do you think or feel that way?
 Think about other's minds: What is your partner or child
thinking and feeling? Why do they think or feel that way?
 Asking for more information and listening
 Asking others for more information and listening rather
than reacting or thinking about what you want to say in
response
 Micro-Expression: http://www.paulekman.com/microexpressions/
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EMPATHY
 Philosopher Theodor Lipps (1851-1914) is
remembered as the father of the first scientific
theory of Einfühlung (“feeling into,” or “empathy”).
 Unlike his predecessors, he used the notion of
Einfühlung to explain how people understand the
mental states of others
 In 1903 he suggested the perception of an
emotional gesture in another directly activates the
same emotion in the perceiver, without any
intervening labeling, associative, or cognitive
perspective-taking processes. He called this “inner
imitation.”
DIFFERENT TYPES OF EMPATHY
 Emotional: state matching; increases with familiarity, similarity
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and salience; self-other distinction
Cognitive: no state matching; self-other distinction;
perspective-taking (theory of mind)
Contagion: state-matching; no self-other distinction; AKA
vicarious emotional transfer (vicarious trauma)
Sympathy: feeling sorry for other’s situation, not necessarily
their emotional state; self-other distinction; no state
matching
Studies suggest that MNS is more involved in the process of
emotional empathy (feeling another’s emotions) rather than
cognitive empathy (imagining another’s perspective)
TWO EMPATHY PATHWAYS IN THE BRAIN
 An older contagion-based emotional empathy system
 And a more recent (evolutionarily speaking), higher order,
theory of mind, perspective-taking system
 The emotion contagion system seems to be related to the
inferior frontal gyrus, close to the insula(where mirror
neurons are plenty)
 The cognitive empathy system is located in the ventromedial
prefrontal cortex where more complex cognitive functions
are regulated; including empathic perspective-taking,
emotion regulation and mentalizing
STRENTHENING EMPATHY SKILLS
 Capacity for emotional empathy is directly related to one’s
ability to feel their own emotions and represent them with
feeling
 Emotional empathy can be strengthened through
remembering one’s own experiences with pain and receiving
comfort from others
 Capacity for cognitive empathy is to have some
understanding of one’s own emotional experience, but also
step outside yourself and look at the situation from the
perspective of the other
STRENTHENING EMPATHY SKILLS
 Both emotional and cognitive empathy skills can be developed
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within the context of therapy - therapist modeling
Showing empathy towards the client
Showing interest in and working to understand others
Remembering ones own emotional pain can help to
understand other's emotional pain
Remembering one's own joy helps to share positive
experiences
Learning cognitive empathy is easier than emotional empathy
(because of lack of state-matching)
WIRED FOR HAPPINESS
 Is the glass half full or half empty?
 Richard Davidson: brain asymmetry and positivity
 Wired for danger and threat, but also wired for
happiness (the later needs attention, particularly if your
past favored the activation of the threat system)
 Left PFC versus Right PFC dominant
 Olds and Milner (1950s) identified the pleasure centers
of the brain
HAPPINESS AND THE BRAIN
 Nucleus accumbens: stimulating causes happiness, laughter,
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pleasure, smiling, even euphoria
NA is located in an older part of the brain which we
share with other species which suggests that happiness
can be measured cross-species.
This region is involved in production of acetylcholine
(learning and plasticity)
This area is also associated with fear, aggression,
impulsivity and addiction
It is part of the brain’s reward system
HAPPINESS AND THE BRAIN
 When dopamine activates the nucleus accumbens we
feel pleasure with certain activities
 So we can learn to associate pleasure with exercise,
sex, drugs and possibly violence
 When there is a proclivity towards reward of negative
behaviors , we need to consciously work to
strengthen the rewarding of positive behaviors; which
is not easy.
HAPPINESS AND THE BRAIN
 Approach emotions: love, compassion, gratitude,
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caring, nurturing
Mediated by the left prefrontal cortex
Withdraw emotions (associated with flight/fight
response) mediated by right PFC
What strengthens the left PFC? Meditation and
mindfulness training
Greasing the happy circuits: Reappraisal, mindfulness,
exercise, healthy diet and secure close relationships
SECURE BASE PRIMING PROGRAM
SECURE BASE PRIMING
 Secure base priming is the activating of mental
representations of attachment figures through words, images
and guided imagery, symbolically making these persons
available for soothing, reassurance and help.
 This process has been found to increase a person’s sense of
felt-security, which contributes to emotional balance and
flexibility, particularly when under stress
 In several studies it has been shown to reduce anger
 Priming can occur either subliminally (not conscious to the
subject) or supraliminally (conscious to the subject).
THE SECURE BASE SCRIPT
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If I encounter an obstacle and/or become upset, I
can approach my attachment figure (a significant
other who I am close to) for help. He or she is likely
to be available and supportive and I will experience
relief and comfort as a result of talking to or being
physically close to this person.When I feel better, I
can then return to other activities.
THE PRIMES
Words: comfort, love, embrace, secure
 Images: Mothers/fathers holding children, couples
kissing/hugging, photographs of the subject’s
attachment figure; fine art images depicting
secure base relationships
 Visual imagery: Making up secure base script
stories and recalling prior actual secure base
experiences
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CURRENT STUDY
How many repeated exposures to primes are
required to create longer-lasting secure base
behavioral effects?
 What are the effects of repeated priming on
mood?
 What are the effects of repeated priming on
behavioral changes in one's attachment
relationships?
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METHODOLOGY
 Experiences in Close Relationships – Revised
 WHOTO Questionnaire
 Experiences in Close Relationships – RS (adpated)
 Pre-Mood Questionnaire
 30 Seconds of word primes (5 words)
 30 Seconds of image primes (5 images)
 Secure Base Script Affirmation
 Secure Base Script Story (Made-up)
 Secure Base Script Story (Recalled)
EXPERIENCES IN CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS
I'm afraid that I will lose my partner's love.
 I often worry that my partner will not want to stay
with me.
 I prefer not to show a partner how I feel deep
down.
 I feel comfortable sharing my private thoughts and
feelings with my partner.
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WHOTO QUESTIONNAIRE
 Proximity-seeking/separation protest:
 Who is the person you most like to spend time with?
 Who is the person it is hardest to be away from?
 Safe-haven:
 Who is the person you want to talk to when you are
worried about something?
 Who is the person you turn to when you are feeling down?
 Secure-base:
 Who is the person you know will always be there for you?
 Who is the person you want to share your successes with?
SECURE BASE PRIMING PROGRAM
 Check out the Secure Base Priming Program at:
 www.securebasepriming.org
 Either Signup to use the program for yourself over time, or
 Login with the below credentials to experience the primes and
get a sense of the program.
 Test login credentials:
 Email: [email protected]
 Password: test1